The 9-session NASA Family Science Night program invites middle school children and their families to discover the wide variety of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics being performed at NASA and in everyday life. Family Science Night...(View More) programs explore various themes on the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and the Universe through fun, hands-on activities, including at-home experiments. Information about Family Science Night implementation and support resources, including the facilitator's guide, are available by registering on the Family Science Night Facilitators website (see Related & Supplemental Resources for link).(View Less)

This is an activity about the states of matter. Learners will participate in a demonstration to reintroduce them to three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. The demonstration also introduces them to a fourth state of matter, plasma, through...(View More) investigation of the properties of volume and shape as they relate to common solids, liquids, and gases, and to the mystery matter later identified at the end as plasma. The demonstration also covers plasma's connection to the Sun and connections to science related to the Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. This activity complements other IBEX informal education materials. The demonstration requires use of a small plasma ball and, ideally, a slightly darkened room so that the plasma ball can be more easily seen. An instructional video explaining how to facilitate this activity is available: http://bit.ly/125ZW5k.(View Less)

This is an activity about the the functioning of the Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. Learners will participate in an interactive demonstration to illustrate how the IBEX spacecraft uses its particle detectors to collect and sort...(View More) particles that come from the boundary of the Solar System. This activity complements other IBEX informal education materials. An instructional video explaining how to facilitate this activity is available: http://bit.ly/YqwWCd.(View Less)

This is a lesson about ice worlds in the outer planetary regions and the role they play in understanding the Solar System. Learners will role-play stories connecting science-related literature to ice worlds, view and interpret space-based images of...(View More) ice worlds, and investigate surface and interior features of outer planetary ice worlds. Photometry and spectroscopy will be used as background. Activities include small group miming, speaking, drawing, and/or writing. This is the lesson 11 of 12 in the unit, Exploring Ice in the Solar System.(View Less)

Students will create a three-dimensional model from a two-dimensional topographic map. They will use the model to trace the path that a water droplet takes across the watershed and into the watercourse, and will describe the relationship between the...(View More) physical features of the watershed and the location of human activities. Resources needed vary, depending on the kind of model that is to be build, but may include: a topographic map of the local watershed, tracing paper, tempera paints, paint brushes, cutting knife or saw, plaster of Paris or paper maché, plasticene or other waterproofing, and corrugated cardboard, plywood or other media from which to cut layers representing each of the contour intervals. This activity is part of the Ground Truth Studies Teacher Handbook, which provides more than 20 activities to build student understanding of global change and remote sensing, and includes background chapters for teachers, glossary, and appendices. Resources needed vary, depending on the kind of model that is to be build, but may include: a topographic map of the local watershed, tracing paper, tempera paints, paint brushes, cutting knife or saw, plaster of Paris or paper maché, plasticene or other waterproofing, and corrugated cardboard, plywood or other media from which to cut layers representing each of the contour intervals.(View Less)